"So you mean to tell me that I, captain of my own gorram ship, can have no say in who is allowed on said ship" Malcolm's eyebrows rose incredulously. It didn't matter to Malcolm that the entire crew was watching him and Inara argue, that was common enough. Nor did the feelings of the stowaway,a young woman with a mass of curly brown hair whom hadn't moved from her spot in the kitchen since Malcolm had been brought into the room by his Mrs.. All that mattered was his anger, how dare any of them think that it was alright to keep someone on his ship without his permission.

"No I would never say that" Inara replied "I'm just saying that certain circumstances call for a certain amount of discretion -

"Discretion my ass, this is my ship and no one has the right to stowaway without my knowledge for an hour let alone three whole days."

"Mal, maybe you should just try to calm down" Kaylee tried to intercede

"How can I calm down Kay when there's been someone aboard this ship who could have caused all sorts of trouble for me and mine if I hadn't been informed by very pregnant wife who put herself into considerable amounts of danger to stow said person away on my own boat." Mal's whole face was contoreted in anger

"Please" Inara scoffed "I was never in any danger, River told me she was fine" she pointed to the girl, who only seemed interested in twisting her hair in her fingers as she listened

Malcolm's mouth shut at that comment, they all knew that River worked on a different level, they'd accepted that fact and lot of other things after Miranda but it still wasn't enough to quash the fear inside of him.

"Can I say something?"

All heads turned to the young woman at the table. She didn't look up from her coffee but her voice was unwavering as she spoke "I was in that port three days ago looking a way off of that planet, River came my aid but it was Serenity that truly made the difference. I thank you for it, even though it wasn't on your own terms." She finally looked up from the mug, her brown eyes reflecting the lights in the room with a sincere set in her jaw "I'm not dangerous, I wouldn't know how to hurt any of you even if I tried...I'll give you what money I can, all I ask is that you drop me off at your next port of call."

Everyone's heads turned back to their captain, who spoke in that slow, clear voice that meant business

"Fine" He decided to ignore the wariness that was always in his gut and place trust into River's small but all to capable hands "But I need the truth before I can't let you stay. There's too much riding on this to not know why you were so eager to get off that rock"

Despite her brown skin, Cameron paled, she glanced around the room for the first time. All those eyes looking at her made her nervous but she spoke anyway. "I've got an ex...at first things seemed good with him but like some men he had a temper that got out of hand." She chanced at glance toward Inara, whose sympathetic look matched what River had explained to Cameron of the former Companion's life. "At first he would just yell but then the yelling turned into something more...physical. I knew I had to get off that planet if I wanted to get away from him. So I took my chance three days ago and left while he was out"

The silence in the room felt oppressive but Mal spoke with a calm an assertive tone.

"You'll pay what you can for fare, the rest can be worked off in trade. Since I've got a kitchen with no cook, I guess that can be you. If your not in here, then you're in the passenger quarters and no place else."

Cameron nodded her head quickly in agreement and immediately it felt like the tension in the room had broken. For the first time since she'd gotten off planet, Cameron finally felt as though she could breathe.

It wasn't long after that breath when River came up to her and whispering"Congratulations" into her ear gently and walked away from the room with a look of happiness on her face.

Cameron was grateful for a bed, so grateful that part of her would've agreed to a lot worse with the Captain just for the opportunity to lay in one. After three days of hiding out (which mostly meant sitting in River's closet without making a sound), a bed was a welcome luxury. Her body relaxed and let go of the kinks she hadn't known she was holding on to and as she felt sleep drift over her, she remembered the eyes that had followed her around the room the entire time she'd been in the kitchen. Jayne, the large man that they belonged to hadn't said a word to her the whole night, he just ate copious amounts of the food she'd cooked and muttered a few agreements here and there. Yet whenever she looked up, those blue eyes were there and whenever she shifted, he seemed to shift to. The merc made her nervous and she couldn't decide if that was a good or bad thing.